Gender and Wars in Gaza Untangled: What Past Wars Have Taught Us?

The impact of the recent escalation cannot be understood without recognizing its distinct gendered impacts on the affected population. Palestinian women, men, girls and boys, and the elderly, many with disability, are now facing new realities in accessing services, providing for themselves and others, and fulfilling expected household roles. For many, these new realities are the result of the cumulative impact of conflict which is compounded by traditional societal perceptions and norms. Based on preliminary data collection and lessons learned from gender analyses of previous escalations, the ongoing crisis has exacerbated gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities and resulted in higher scale of humanitarian needs among women, girls, men and boys in Gaza.1 The following brief analysis will examine the gendered impact of the escalation in the framework of the thematic focus of humanitarian sectors and clusters.